Fires Along Australia East Coast

On Australia's eastern coast, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) detected a number of active fires, including a few large fires with visible smoke plumes in the Great Dividing Range. The scene stretches from just north of Hervey Bay in southern Queensland to the Liverpool Range (a smaller range within the Great Dividing Range) in northern New South Wales. On the eastern shores of Moreton Bay (upper right center), the city of Brisbane shows as a pale gray spot against the deep green mountains.
As the Southern Hemisphere begins the spring thaw and growing season, wildfires like those shown here will become more an more common. The wildfire season in southeastern Australia has already started, with over 30,000 hectares (about acres) of land affected. This true-color Aqua MODIS image was acquired on September 22, 2003.
Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC